Alienware 17 R2 Disassembly and SSD, RAM, HDD upgrade options

Alienware 17 R2 is one of the latest gaming laptops from Dell that features a 17.3-inch screen, a 4th generation Intel® Core™ i7-4710HQ processor, 16GB of RAM, and an NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 980M graphics card. It also comes with Windows 8.1, and once received by the buyer, it’s immediately ready to play games, surf the Internet, and do a plethora of other e-activities on it.

This laptop is specifically built for gaming. Gaming laptops have very high-end CPUs and graphics processors that allow gamers to play recently released games with high texture quality and frame rate. They tend to be heavier and thicker in order to support the high-performance parts.

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Specification
Screen: 17.3 inch 16:9, 1920×1080 pixel IPS screen
Processor: Intel® Core™ i7-4710HQ 2.5 GHz processor (6M cache, up to 3.50 GHz)
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M 4GB GDDR5
Memory: 16GB DDR3L 1600(2xDIMMs)
Storage: 1TB 2.5-inch 5400 RPM HDD, 512GB M.2 SSD
Connectivity: Killer Wireless-n/a/ac 1525 Wireless Network Adapter (a/b/g/n/ac), Bluetooth 4.1
Ports: 4 USB 3.0 / 3.1 Gen1, 1 HDMI, 1 DisplayPort, 1 Kensington lock, audio connections: audio in 3.5mm + audio out 3.5mm, Card Reader: 9-in-1, 1 port for the Alienware graphic amplifier
Battery: 96 Wh Lithium-Ion battery
Operating system: Windows 8.1
Size: 430×291.9×34.4mm
Weight: 3.78kg

1. Removing the service cover
Remove two screws securing the service cover.

Slide down and remove it.

Under the cover, you can access a hard drive module, a wireless card, two RAMs, one SSD, and three spare M.2 SSD slots.

This Alienware 17 R2 features four M.2 SSD slots.

2. Removing the RAM
Separate the clips. The RAM will pop up.
This Alienware 17 R2 comes with two Samsung 8GB PC3L-12800S RAMs.

2. Removing the SSD
Remove one screw securing the SSD and take it out from the M.2 slot.
The Alienware 17 R2 comes with a Lite-On LGT-512L9G SSD, Dell P/N: 0686M7.

Lite-On LGT-512L9G SSD Specification
Random read speed up to 85,000 IOPS, random write speed up to 75,000 IOPS.
Lite-On L9G 512GB’s random read speed is 85,000 IOPS, which is 13% faster than the average 512 GB SSD.
Lite-On L9G 512GB’s random write speed is 75,000 IOPS, which is 15% faster than the average 512 GB SSD.
Sequential read speed up to 520 MB/s, sequential write speed up to 440 MB/s.

From the back of the SSD, the SSD size is 22*80.

3. Removing the hard drive
Remove four screws securing the hard drive module and disconnect the SATA cable from the motherboard.
Lift it up and remove it from the laptop.
The Alienware 17 R2 features a Toshiba 1TB 5400 RPM MQ01ABD100 hard drive, Dell P/N: 01KT1K.

4. Removing the palm rest and keyboard
Remove all visible screws from the bottom case.

Turn over the laptop. Pry up the palm rest with a crowbar.

Lift up the palm rest.
There are some cables that still connect the palm rest to the motherboard.
Before disconnecting the cables, we should disconnect the battery first.

5. Disconnect the battery connector
Disconnect the battery connector from the motherboard.
Disconnect the keyboard cable and touchpad cable from the motherboard. You can remove the palm rest.

On the back of the palm rest, you can access the touchpad keyboard and two little boards.
Now, you can remove the keyboard and replace it with a new keyboard.

6. Removing the screen assembly
In order to remove the motherboard, we should remove the screen assembly.
Remove all screws securing the LCD hinges (left and right) and disconnect the LCD cable from the motherboard. You can remove the screen assembly.

7. Removing the battery
Remove all screws securing the battery. Lift up and remove it.
The gaming laptop comes with an 8-cell 92wh battery.
The battery lasted an impressive 6 hours and 25 minutes.

7. Removing the motherboard
When the screen assembly is removed, you can access the motherboard, speakers, DC jack, USB board, heat sink, and cooling fan module.
Disconnect the speaker cable and USB board cable from the motherboard.
Remove all screws securing the motherboard.
Lift up and remove the motherboard from the laptop.

Alienware 17 R2 motherboard

8. Removing the heat sink and cooling fan
Loosen eight screws securing the heat sink.
Disconnect two fan cables from the motherboard. You can remove the heat sink and cooling fan module.

9. Removing the wireless card
Unplug two antennas and remove one screw. You can remove the wireless card.
The laptop features a Killer1525 wireless card, Dell P/N: 0K1D64.

10. Removing the USB board
Remove two screws securing the board
The USB board has two USB 3.0 ports, a headset jack, and a microphone jack.
Red: TPA 311D1 Class D audio amplifier
Blue: Parade 8713B USB 3.0 repeater / redrive, bidirectional

11. Chips on the motherboard
Red: MHPC NS892407 Network Transformers

Red: Pericom PI6CEQ20200LIE C CLOCK GENERATOR

Red: TPA3131 Class D audio amplifier

Red: C8051F383 microcontroller

Red: CREATIVE CAL132 audio chip

Red: Killer E2201-B network card chip

Red: ENE KB9012QF A4 Keyboard Controller

Red: Intel® Core™ i7-4710HQ 2.5 GHz processor (6M Cache, up to 3.50 GHz)
Blue: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M 4GB GDDR5
Orange: SK Hynix 4GB GDDR5 video memory
Purple: South Bridge chip

For more guides, check out the Alienware 17 R2 device page.